The first school term of the year is done. And I am so done with it. I really deserve a pat on the back for surviving it. The term has such a negative connotation to it that I hesitate to use it but it is also so apt. Or maybe the first term of the year will always be this way and I just got to get used to it? But anyway this post focuses on the culmination of this 10 weeks.
The last day of school term began with an odd request for all students to report to the hall instead of parade square for our usual assembly. I knew it had something to do with prize presentation for Good Deed Awards which included awardees who found and returned a 20 cents coin. (raised eyebrow) It was a long (and tedious) list and line of students to receive badges from the principal.
Our new principal...I can rave about her all day =) I am her woman through and through (like Harry is Dumbledore's man through and through, get it?) the moment she announced that she will tackle the discipline issue of our school. Every teacher deserves to feel safe! And during our recent FGD session, she revealed (without giving away too many details) that she had something up her sleeves to not just focus on the bad but the good as well..
It was announced that the one and only class which managed to achieve zero latecoming for the entire term was going to be rewarded. What better reward for secondary one kids than........ drum roll please........... Free MacDonalds breakfast! The entire hall went crazy! The atmosphere then was electric and in a good way that one does not often feel in that particular hall...
I really have to give it to her for coming up with the ingenious idea of "Lucky StaRs" - I will never again think of them as just those strips of papers you fold endlessly in my own secondary school days.. She announced that to recognize the other good students who have zero latecoming and no conduct issue, all of their names were collated into a list and out of this list, 3 lucky StaRs were randomly picked to receive Swensen vouchers. *jaw drop*
try and imagine expectant senior citizens standing around a radio as the 4D numbers for the week is announced.... that was exactly the kind of situation we had in the hall as names of deserving students and their respective class flashed across the big screen against a background picture of you-guessed-it folded lucky stars.. held breathes, loud cheers, thunderous claps, big smiles.. it was wonderful to witness it all... and as a fellow colleague had put it.. I had never been prouder to be part of this school.
But that was not what led to the teary eyes.. hmmm...teary eyes were due to the Parent Engagement Session that followed in the afternoon till evening. Mainly. But come to think of it, there had been many more occasions in the past 10 weeks when teary eyes had similarly threatened... which really made me question myself if I am in the right job... how can one says you are a professional when you have trouble keeping emotions in check when you feel it so deeply in the heart.. I want to be there for them so much but am I the right person?
okay... teary eyes threatening again.. signing out.
